The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
In conventional motor vehicles, an operator actuates a mechanical shifting lever to select one of a plurality of forward and reverse transmission gear ratios. The mechanical position of the shifting lever is converted to an electronic signal that is communicated to the transmission by an internal mode switch. A typical internal mode switch includes a plate or lever having a plurality of detents, each detent corresponding to one of neutral, park, and the plurality of forward and reverse gear ratios. A roller assembly engages these detents and helps to locate the plate such that the internal mode switch can detect which of the forward and reverse gear ratios has been selected by the operator of the motor vehicle. While useful for its intended purpose, there is room in the art for an improvement to the internal mode switch to provide a backup alignment system that acts as a redundant system to the roller assembly.